Narrated by a (somewhat) impartial court observer, this reworking of a much older tale, concerns the obsessive artistry, and terrible downfall of the painter Yoshihide. First published in 1918 in ser…

This famous story (regarded by Kurt Vonnegut as the best short story in American literature) describes (in a style that today might be described as Lynchian) a moment in time. A man, condemned, and a…

It was a seemingly ordinary mezzotint*, unremarkable except for the unusually high price, and the half-missing attribution on the back. Until the changes began. For the curator of a university art mu…

Robert Blake is a hunted man, only he does not know it yet.

A young writer with an interest in the occult, Mr Blake becomes fascinated by a distant church, the spire of which he can see from his garre…

Warning! Tonal whiplash incoming. This delightful (and delightfully creepy) short story by master of the genre Montague Rhodes James is a sort-of Billy Bunter meets the contents of a Breugel the Elde…

An ancient evil festers in the heart of a small community, and though the original perpetrators may be gone, traces of their misdeeds linger on. Also, it's never a good idea to stay the night in a se…

In our final instalment of this perplexing and perturbing story, (see episode 34 for part two). Things reach a fever pitch at Bly manor with multiple manifestations, disappearances, and a possible br…

In part two (see episode 33 for part one), tension mounts, apparition encounters increase, and the governess at Bly begins to lose the plot.

Narrated by Thomas Barker

Queries, comments? Write to me at:…

The ceremony of innocence is drowned in this, most ambiguous ghostly novella from 1898 by renowned Anglo-American writer Henry James.

A governess is given charge of two young children in the countrysi…

If you open the doors of perception too far, who knows what might come knocking? An eminent physician is drawn into a dangerous occult scheme by a longtime colleague, with horrific results.
The Thing …

A remote house, a decaying journal. Two friends on a holiday in remote Western Ireland uncover a tale of wonders (and terrors), and an unfathomable abyss that will leave them forever changed. This un…

Upon rediscovering a drug used centuries ago to expand the consciousness of mystics, eccentric author Halpin Chalmers hopes (along with the aid of certain, esoteric mathematical formulae) to utilise …

One of the first stories written by Lovecraft as an adult, the story was inspired in part by a dream he had. "I dreamed that whole hideous crawl, and can yet feel the ooze sucking me down!" he later …

Two friends embark on what was to be an innocent hunting trip, but which soon leads to decay, degredation, and a chilling secret that gnaws at the heart of the world.

This somewhat obscure story, firs…

Described by M.R James as "absolutely in the first rank as a writer of ghost stories", Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 - 1873) created gothic and macabre tales that, more than a century hence, h…

From 1893, this short tale of horror treats, in Bierce's inimitable style, with a sinister creature that is not detectable by mortal means.

Narrated by Thomas Barker
Music and Production by Thomas Bark…

Tekeli-li.. . .

Tekeli-li ... .

Narrated by Thomas Barker
Production by Thomas Barker

Queries, comments? Write to me at: [email protected]

Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtube.com/playlist?li…

Signs of life stir in the aeon-dead city. Is something waking up? Or was it never asleep in the first place?

Narrated by Thomas Barker
Production by Thomas Barker

"Thunder Dreams" Kevin MacLeod (incompe…

The history of The Old Ones, their ancient battles, decline and fall, as well as their amorphous servants The Shoggoths, is revealed.

Narrated by Thomas Barker
Production by Thomas Barker

"Shadowlands 3…

Dr. Dyer and Danforth begin their descent into the cyclopean ruins. The cryptic murals and alien architecture they uncover begin to reveal troubling secrets about earth's long-distant past.

Narrated b…